A WRITING PROCESS BLOG TOUR.

Hark! Author at work!

Much thanks to the boisterous K M Jackson for inviting me along on this blog tour and for always being so happy and encouraging in all things. And for getting me hooked on Scandal! 

Paying it forward, I encourage you all to check out Kwana's musings about the writing process and her books at Kwana Writes. I have just finished her self-published novel, Bounce, and I have to say I abso-loved it!

Now, as for this blog tour, I will attempt to answer the questions that have been bouncing about the Internet since...whenever this tour started.

What am I working on?

Shockingly, working on many things to do with the writing business though I'm not seriously writing (a story) at the moment. I have a book releasing in early April (big cheerleading shoutout) and am going insane trying to decide how much or how little time, money and effort I ought to be pouring into its promotions. Of course, I seem to have gone a bit overboard with Book Trailers (never realized how much fun they are to create.) So, here's one for your enjoyment.

What else am I working on? I have recently finished a manuscript and am in the process of finding a publisher. Plus, my head is bursting full of an unconventional love story that I am desperate to pen down...right now! But I won't/can't until Bootie and the Beast releases.

How does my work differ from the others of its genre?

The more things seem different, the more they are the same. I believe that to be true and I think my writing emulates that belief. My characters might be products of diverse cultures and my story might be steeped in cultural mores but love, hatred, passion, apathy, revenge, good and evil...any and all human traits transcend culture. So while my work might seem differently flavored from others of its genre...I think its core would be the same.
Undeniably, I bring my own brand of culture...or rather, multi-culture into my stories, as I am an EU National of Indian descent living in the USA. I am fascinated by the human psyche. Why a person does what he does or makes the choices he makes? In the simplest of terms: what makes a person tick? I consider myself an amateur philosopher, anthropologist, historian and mythologist and try and work some of those threads through my stories, always. 

Why do I write what I do?

It's the HEA! The Happily-Ever-After at the end that I love so much and so I must write romances. As I mentioned before, I obsess over mythology and that lures me down the path of fantasy. Now, what could be more appetizing than a fantasy steeped in myths with a brilliant love story threaded through it? Nothing, Peeps. Nothing.

How does your writing process work?

Like a movie playing in my head. What I mean is, I picture the scene as a movie in my head first. I guess I think in visuals. The words are but a description of that scene my mind directed and produced. When I am deep into the craft mode or writing mode, I even dream plot lines or the next move my character should or shouldn't make. Its rather disconcerting sometimes as my dreaming is not restricted to slumber-time.  I could very well be driving to the grocery store in the dead of a winter afternoon and suddenly find myself in Bermuda at sunset with hot, pink sand under my feet and salty air in my mouth...sometimes with a scimitar in my hands. Which is why I more or less become a recluse when I am in writing mode.

And thats it for this round of questions about my writing process. Before I sign off, I shall tag the next writer to carry the torch of this blog tour forward. Be sure to look for her blog post this friday, Peeps. 

Photo credit: Besa Photography

Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar is a South Asian American who has lived in Qatar since 2005. Moving to the Arabian Desert was fortuitous in many ways since this is where she met her husband, had two sons, and became a writer.  She has since published eight e-books, including a momoir for first time mothers, Mommy But Still Me; a guide for aspiring writers, So You Want to Sell a Million Copies; a short story collection, Coloured and Other Stories; and a novel about women’s friendships, Saving Peace.

Her coming of age novel, An Unlikely Goddess, won the SheWrites New Novelist competition in 2011.

Her recent books have focused on various aspects of life in Qatar. From Dunes to Dior, named as a Best Indie book in 2013, is a collection of essays related to her experiences as a female South Asian American living in the Arabian Gulf. Love Comes Later was the winner of the Best Indie Book Award for Romance in 2013 and is a literary romance set in Qatar and London. The Dohmestics is an inside look into compound life, the day-to-day dynamics between housemaids and their employers.